“I think we’ve taken that explanation way too far—which contributes to our being way over-medicated.”
I agree. Drinking alcohol is a means of ignoring or treating mental pain. I suspect the pain originates because we find ourselves in a situation that we really don’t like. But, for whatever reason, that situation is not escapable. Yet, our unforgiving subconscious demands that we escape. The tension between the self-driven need to escape and the inability to physically or mentally do so causes pain. Getting buzzed on the cheapest and legally obtainable substance, alcohol, temporarily dulls the pain. Is this menial illness? Maybe not. But it is self-destructive. The shorthand description for this condition is mental illness. As in all generalizations, much is lost by using the shorthand.
Drinking alcohol is also a harmless and enjoyable thing for probably billions on the planet who don’t abuse it. Not always negative and escapism.
Some apparently are more genetically predisposed to abuse, so there is that too.